Red Lodge Montana is beginning the slow process of recovery, while the state's governor remains in an undisclosed location out of the country.
Red Lodge under water
Video of Red Lodge flooding. Drone footage by Beartooth Slingshot Rentals.
Flooding closes Yellowstone, washes out Red Lodge
Flooding has closed Yellowstone National Park and has forced evacuations in Red Lodge. Swollen Rock Creek is flooding homes in Red Lodge and the town is now under boil order after city water had to be turned off temporarily.
Reporting from earlier Monday morning from the Billings Gazette.
Video on twitter suggests Main Street in Red Lodge is now part of the main channel for Rock Creek. The bridge to Bearcreek is either blocked, gone or both.
Carp on the fly!
Corner crossers win, but the access war forever rages
May was a busy month, and I'm more than a little behind here. This column about the victory for corner crossing hunters in Wyoming, was published early in the month. In it, I suggest what I've long believed, that our battle for access to public lands in the West will be a long one.
Sadly, there are a lot of folks with a lot of money who have convinced themselves that wealth entitles them to what belongs to everyone. If you think they're going to lay down and let the riff-raff freely access public lands we own, just because a jury of riff-raff tossed the trespassing case against a group of hunters who never set foot on private property, you are well on your way to losing the access you cherish.
The wealthy considered themselves entitled to the exclusive use. They won't be satisfied until they've taken it all.
Not carp
Calf eating griz killed
A male griz was killed by the Department of Agriculture after receiving approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The bear had killed and fed on four calves. It was a 3- 4-year-old bear, weighing 390 pounds.
The head and hide was salvaged for Choteau High School students who are constructing a target to use for bear spray training lessons.
Cleaning up their mess
It seems the new FWP commission made a hash of things changing hunting and fishing regs on the fly this winter, according to a story by Missoula Currant reporter Laura Lundquist. Already, the commission has had to reverse Kokanee salmon limits on Georgetown Lake approve just in March.
FWP is also dealing with a snafu caused by a new computer system that eliminated many hunter's applications for second- and third-choice permits when they applied for first choice only permits. FWP director Hank Worsech is increasing permits in some districts in an effort to make things right.
Hunting Photo Manifesto
I've been mulling the value of hunting photos posted on social media for a long time, nearly as long as I've been on social media. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram seem to amplify the impact of these images. I've seen the effects, felt my own stomach turn when distasteful dead game, dumb hunter photos turns up online.
Here's my column on the subject. I think we can do better. We must do better. Hunters are an ever decreasing minority. If hunting is to survive, we can't afford to turn the non-hunting majority against us.
Inappropriate images are a great way to fast track that animosity toward hunting.
Fish Brains Get Another Look
Are fish smarter than we think? Do they feel pain? Is catch and release fishing sound conservation or animal cruelty?
Is there a middle ground? Here's my column.